GM
has been touting its Volt extended range EV for years now and the
vehicle finally close to hitting the U.S. market. The vehicle uses a
gasoline generator to produce electricity to drive the wheels once
the all-electric driving range is used up. GM has big plans for sales
of the Volt, despite its relatively high $41,000 price tag.

The
company has announced that it will build 10,000 to 15,000 Volts in
2011. That tidbit comes from GM global vehicle line executive for
electric vehicles Doug Parks. Parks also told The
Detroit News that
in 2012, Volt production could be upped to as many as 60,000
vehicles. That announcement comes on the heels of GM updating the
production capacity for the 2012 model year to 30,000 to
45,000.

Parks said, "Starting in '12, we'll be in this
max rate of 60,000." Parks claims that GM could actually sell
that many volts in 2012 and possibly even make more of the vehicles
than the 60,000 number. Park told The
Detroit News,
"We have the ability to increase volume and crank that up. We
don't have any firm plans yet but we're flexible."

Park
also stated that GM is in the process of finalizing the EPA fuel
economy numbers and electric driving range for the Volt. He also
admits that the final number could come in at under the 40-mile
electric range mark that GM has been promising all these years. The
final electric range number could be as low
as 25 miles, however, Parks hopes that GM will "over
deliver".

Park said that GM is working to reduce the
$41,000 MSRP for the Volt as well. He said, "Our business model
for the Volt is not finalized yet. We need to continue to make that
(price) better as we go forward."

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This article is over a month old, voting and posting comments is disabled

Yup, and coal is mined right here in the good ol US of A. Besides, how much fuel is burnt getting that petroleum across the Atlantic? I'd rather burn the coal for electricity than go to the pump. Especially since I rarely go over 20 miles in an average day.

And to the genius who mentioned the Tesla, I think those are slightly over $41,000 and once you are out of battery power, all you have to do in dig out the generator that you have in the passenger seat and wait for it to charge the batteries.